get back here tomorrow. we might dress up again. have a good night. >> eric: i spelled allen greyson's name wrong. >> kimberly: we told you. >> eric: we know who you are! ♪ ♪ >> bret: the formula for gridlock remains intact. the president wins. democrats control the senate. the g.o.p. runs the house. we break it all down and look forward to what lies ahead. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier back in washington tonight for a special edition of "special report" with limited commercial interruptions. more time for news, guests and panels on this, the first day after the election. despite record breaking debt and deficit numbers and some of the highest unemployment

rate ever for an incumbent, barack obama easily won re-election as president tuesday night. but was projected as one of the closest races ever was instead called hours ahead of schedule. leading to a night of celebration for democrats. and bitter defeat for republicans. now the challenge of a second term for the president. chief white house correspondent ed henry on what's next. >> reporter: as president obama and his family returned from chicago after the jubilation of victory, his top allies vowed he will be willing to cooperate with the republicans on the looming fiscal cliff. >> nobody wants to see this fiscal cliff without a deal, because the cuts are severe and the tax increases are severe. so we've got to find a path forward. >> that follows lofty promises, the president made at the celebration about how the best is yet to come. >> i am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can

only solve together. reducing the deficit. reforming the tax code. fixing our immigration system. >> republicans say they heard it before. actually, at the last victory party in chicago. >> while the democratic party won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility. and determination to heal the divide. >> last night, the president also revealed he is planning a dramatic move to jumpstart the effort. >> ahead, i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney to talk about where we can work together to move the country forward. >> except for president elect obama did the same with republican john mccain. >> just going to have a good conversation about how we can do some work together. to fix up the country. >> reporter: within a year-and-a-half, the president did not seem as conciliatory toward mccain at healthcare summit. >> let me just make this point, john, because we're not campaigning anymore. the election is over. >> i'm reminded of that every day. >> the president made clear

mccain and his republican colleagues simply moved too far to the right to work out any deals. republican view is president idea of bipartisan is to force them to accept sharp tax increases. they're skeptical mr. obama is willing to step up with real spending cuts. >> i was interested in his remarks last night. about saying that the best is yet to come. we would have liked to have seen some of that in the first four years. but maybe, maybe he really is serious this time. >> a stummaling block may be the investigation over the terror attack in benghazi. mccain an republican lindsey graham press for answers and accused the white house of stonewalling. >> fox learned that the house intelligence committee will have a closed hearing next thursday on benghazi. administration pledging cooperation and sending witnesses like c.i.a. director david petraeus. on the fiscal cliff, vice president biden told reporters today the administration now has a mandate on tax policy. republicans, though, may have other ideas. bret? >> ed henry live on the north

lawn. thanks. status quo was the winner congress. democrats maintained and even expanded their lead in the senate. some house races are still up in the air. but we know the g.o.p. will still have the majority. which means john boehner will remain speaker. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel tonight on the agendas of the respective leaders. >> fresh off the election that guarantees republicans will retain control of the house of representatives, speaker john boehner made clear his numbers are not going to abandon the principles. >> we don't sol t problem of the fiscal imbalance overnight and we certainly won't do in a lame duck session of congress. it won't beed simply by raising taxes or taking a plunge off the fiscal cliff. >> congress' ability to get things done will be tested soon after the election when the fiscal cliff and massive trillions of dollars in tax increases spending cut ace rive at the end of the year. on that pressing matter, they called for grounds to fix it.

>> if there is a mandate for us to find way to work together for solutions of the challenges we face as a nation. >> members are told the president's plan has been we should send the economy off part of the fiscal cliff raising the tax rates. or send the economy off entirely. either pass will cost jobs and hurt the nation economy and leading to more debt on the children. they insist they're unified and recognize the president and the senate democrats won and so did they. on the other side, the counterpart in the senate will continue to be majority leader harry reid. >> compromise is not a dirty word. i'm willing to negotiate anytime on any issue. >> the senate majority leader offered this take away from the election. >> this is the message american people sent from all over. they're party of the partisan gridlock. tired of well, i have one

goal. dy feet obama. that's gone. he was re-elected overwhelmingly. the american people want us to work together. >> in terms of way forward, boehner told rank and file members a bridge on the fiscal issues such as taxes, spending, sequester and perhaps the debt limit could be the way to go. that would buy time for a new congress in a new year to work on longer term solutions. bret? >> bret: mike emanuel on capitol hill after a throat lozenge. thank you. what about the approaching fiscal cliff? will we walk up to the precipice and stop or jump over to economic black hole? take a deep breath. here we go again. jim angle has details. >> reporter: the fiscal cliff was crafted to be so distasteful, the officials would do anything and everything to avoid it, which

did not work. >> we could be in a recession next year and it could decrease size of the economy. >> fiscal cliff is $440 billion of taxes and $200 billion of spending cuts. going over the full fiscal cliff is recipe for recession. >> not the way mr. obama wants to begin the second term. the fiscal cliff and simultaneous cancer jens of tax increases an spending cuts will wreak havoc with the economy. spending cuts for instance take $2.10 trillion in ten years. >> these are big cuts, 10-14% in programs quarter of the way through the fiscal year. that is bad policy and dangerous. >> the biggest stumbling block is tax increases, everyone wants to extend the bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year. the president, however, wants to raise taxes on those making more. and add other taxes to boot. some analysts argue that would crush small businesses, which create two-third of all jobs. >> the tax increases that president obama has fought

for, would actually increase taxes on small businesses by $50 billion a year. in 2010, president obama extened all the tax cuts. now the economy is growing at 2%. mr. obama is forging ahead and senator reid argues he has a mandate to do so. >> the president campaigned around the country. saying we know what the problems are with the fiscal problem. we just need re-knew. >> the speaker of the house says the increased revenues are fine depending where they come from. >> for the purpose of the bipartisan agreement, begins to the problem, we are willing to accept new re-knew under the right conditions. >> reporter: meaning new revenue from growth and reform, not the tax increases. he points to the bipartisan 1986 reagan reform, which eliminated tax deductions to

increase re-knew and lower tax -- revenues and lower tax rate. the same approach given by bowles-simpson. >> bret: this will be a busy sometime. thanks. stocks took a dive this morning and didn't get much better after that. dow plunged 313 today. the s&p 500 dropped 34. the nasdaq lost 75. analysis of the economic impact from the colleagues at fox business network. melissa francis. good evening. >> good evening. >> yeah. when you look out at the stock market and you try to ask yourself why did it fall today, but yesterday when it looked like president obama was winning, it went up. >> the difference they looked out and realized that the taxes would go up on the dividends and the capital gains most likely from a basic sense when you make invest in the the market you try to predict how much a stock will go up.

the investments look less attractive. at the same time, people look down and maybe you voted for individual candidate. these are folks that let us get the economy, the cliff. and these are the same people. what makes me think together that it doesn't seem like it will make things better. >> bret: right. that is why the market things the fiscal cliff is scarier today than it was last week. >> reporter: february you listen to what is out there today you can hear the reticence how they will make a difference and not go over the edge of the cliff. it's a serious thing. moody's is talking about a downgrade. it would take a bite out of the little recovery we're having in the economy. it's scary to investors and

anyone who knows anything about the economy. >> bret: over in europe, and we saw protests today. over in greece. how is that affecting the market? >> guest: that is another thing out the window further away that looks worse than the situation we're in but has a huge impact on us. in the past, we could say at least our company can sell overseas, at least that is a place to get the re-knew. at least you know, we are doing better than they are. but maybe we can go out and sell them products. now, they are in as big if not a bigger crisis than we are. so that takes a bite out of things here as well. in the meantime, moody's is talking about downgrading our debt, their debt. just takes down the value of the dollar of stocks, of our debt. tough out there. >> bret: we will watch it closely. thank you do you think congress can come together with a compromise? and quickly?

follow me. @bretbaier. he once had a thrill up his leg for barack obama. see why chris ma chews was thrilled about something else. that's later in grapevine. up next, what went wrong for romney. short breaks tonight so don't go far. we'll be back in 40 seconds.

>> bret: told you it would be quick. the two big questions for republicans tonight. what went wrong? where do they go from here? chief political correspondent carl cameron has that story from boston. >> reporter: mitt romney's family surrounded him on stage after he graciously concedeed defeat. he did not see coming. >> i so wish, i so wish that i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction. >> there were witnesses in romney's run and the president exploited them. perhaps the low point for romney was ther is tippously in -- surreptitiously 47% remark. he did not have attack ads over the summer to negatively define his business career. >> hundreds of factors and stores were shuttered. >> reporter: it took a toll. in the self-described must-win state of ohio the loss was in no small measure to slow response to democrat ache tack on the opposition to auto

bail-out. romney had battleground states. romney admits under estimating the organization and support. >> i never waivers in my support of comprehensive immigration reform. >> it started the debate about better courting women, minorities and younger voters. romney was clobbered monk latinos. president won 90% of the black voters. the gp gender gap disadvantage remains. the president carried 55 to 44 for women. younger voters obama won 60% to 37%. campaign spending was about even but romney's social media and internet campaign paled comparison to the presidents's. the high point of romney's bid was winning performance in the first debate. >> you have been president and said you'd cut the deficit in half. four years later. >> exit polls say romney won on jobs and the economy. some say he waited too long, the last three weeks to court the moderate swing vote terse bipartisan rhetoric. some insiders pushed for sooner. >> at a time like this, we

can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. the leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work. >> for romney that was a high note on which to end it so he did. romney aides say if the president invitation to meet with the governor and talk about ways to bridge the partisan divide is serious, at appropriate time, he will be willing to talk. for now he's spending time with family. >> bret: carl cameron live in boston. thank you. republicans were able to pick off another governor's office from the democrats in north carolina. virginia's bob mcdonald is chairman of the republican governors association and joins us live from richmond tonight. governor, thank you for being here. >> hi, bret. good evening. >> you just heard carl's piece. we heard today a lot of republican soul searching about the future after this loss. your thoughts today? >> guest: we're very disappointed that we didn't win. mitt romney-paul ryan were terrific leaders and decent

people. we go to election and the polls even. hand it to the president. he did a great job getting out of with the voter and closing argument had undecided many go his way. we salute that. but yes, i'm pleased that the bright light last night. we won eight of the 11 congressional seats in virginia. and we pick up another republican governor. so we have 30 republican governors. 60% now. around the country. that is a good sign. >> bret: there is instro spection. if you look at the coalition the president put together, the latino vote. exit polls. it went up from 2008 to 2012. voted for president obama. the youth vote went up from 2008 to 2012 from 18 to 19%.

the female vote gender gap was significant for the president. the gender gap is significant. do the republicans have to do more on those fronts? >> yes. i thought the message was good on jobs and the economy. deficit reduction, energy independence, protecting the military. the right issue. but winning is the combination of the right tone to bring as many people on your team as possible and the organization on the ground. we have to do better than that. the outreach to the newer voters, the younger voter, the minority voters, bret, we got pretty well clobbered across the board there. we've got to do better. i believe our conservative ideas are better for all of those groups, all of those people. we got to be more effective. i do think our message is better. young people look at the crushing national debt, not getting a job, being in debt out of college. our message resonates but we have to be more effective to get it to them early. >> bret: governor, a lot of

talk today about compromise, both sides saying they want to reach across the aisle and get things done, because that is the message they heard. but for democrats like senator reid, who talked today to reporters, he said there was another message about taxes. take a listen. >> there was a message sent to us by the american people. based on the campaign. that is, people making all of this money have to contribute a little bit more. >> bret: how do you think the bat wil battle is going to , governor? >> guest: the class warfare argument of senator reid continues. you know, the united states senate hasn't passed a budget under his leadership in three yeah years. and that is embarrassing. i do think that the broader point is the election is over. we are disappointed with the results. without capitulating to the principles as conservatives, bret, we have to get this

nation on track and not go over the cliff. entitlement need to be reformed and military still needs to be protected. we have to find a way to keep us off the cliff. the united states credit rating downgraded and cause international crisis because we can't make an agreement would be devastating to governors in the states as we have to manage the budgets. i have confidence in john boehner and, cantor, and mitch mitch mcconnell to final a way and do it soon. >> bret: same team that was up here for the supercommittee that had the same job to do, to fine a solution to the problem. the sequester put in place that affects a state like yours, that you just mentioned, military and it didn't get done. same group of folks with the same job. what makes you certain it will get done this time? >> deadlines. before, they had the deadline that was averted with the sequestration in august and

the super committee was supposed to fix it. they didn't have the back to the wall. now it's to the wall because all of the cliff issues occur on or about january 1. lame duck president with the president and the same folks to find a way to get it done. embarrassing that the greatest country on earth is continued to be driven to the end, to the brink of default and international crisis. time to find a way to stand up. and president has to lead and know entitlement reform and spending constraint is the first priority. that's what governors are doing and we have a surplus in virginia. the path we have taken. these are all good americans and they love their country and will find a way to get it done. >> bret: governor bob mcdonald in virginia. thank you for your time. >> guest: thanks. >> bret: still ahead -- the world's number one terrorist checks in on libya.

first, democrats hang on to u.s. senate and republicans hang around. we're back in 30 seconds. >> bret: maine senator elect an gus king says he still has not decideed whether he will caucus with the democrats or the republicans. the former governor ran and won as an independent. he exceeds retiring republican

olympia snowe. however king decides, democrats maintain the majority. the balance of power includes 51 democrats and two independents who caucus with them. there are 47 republicans. next year, 53 democrats and two independents and 45 republicans. that is not large must have to be filibuster proof. that would require 60 votes. let's talk about that and the way forward with democrat patty murray of washington state. she was not on the ballot yesterday but she is the head of the democratic senatorial campaign committee and big winner in that role. congratulations. >> guest: thank you. appreciate it. >> bret: a big night. if you look at wins the democratic senate pickup, elizabeth warren an donnelly of massachusetts and indiana. claire mccaskill facing a tough race in missouri at one time. it turned out to be not that tough. deb fischer in nebraska. angus king. now late today another pickup. >> guest: right.

heidi hidekamp. >> one thing i look for is i talk to people about running for the senate as democrats real leaders who understood what was happening to people in the state. heidi heidekamp is a great example of someone in a red state but has down home valu values. joe donnelly same thing. understand what is is happening to the working class today and wants to come to washington, d.c. to solve the problem. across the board, our candidates really said yes at a tough time to run because they want to come together and work. you hear joe donnelly say time and again, i'm not coming to represent a party. i'm coming to work to solve the problems of this country. i think that characterization goes across board and gives us the ability to really come together to find some solutions today. >> bret: speaker boehner talked about forging a bipartisan agreement. he was specific. take a listen to this. >> for the purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to sol t problem, we're

willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions. shoring up entitlement and reforming the tax code and closing special interest loophole and deductions. will bring jobs home and result in stronger economy. >> bret: when you hear that what do you hear? >> i appreciate that the speaker understands that revenue needs to be on the table. >> bret: you say "revenue" and you mean tax increases. >> guest: correct. if it's new tax revenue that falls on the middle class. takes away their ability to take their home mortgage as tax deduction. those things that fall on the middle class americans. that is not acceptable. what americans said loudly is they want to us do this in a fair and balanced way. everything has to participate. if that is what the speak is talking about we can get there quickly. >> bret: we like the "fair

and balanced" phrase. you were on the super committee and did not get the job done. what in your mind changes with this status quo situation? i know you gained a couple of seats. it is essential the same group of folks dealin dealing with the problem. >> a couple of things. the governor is right. deadlindeadlines do make a difference. but i think the deadline is very real. at the end of the year, all of the bush tax cut expire. if we get to that and that happens, then i think it puts us in a new dynamic, where we are not voting to -- you know, raise the taxes on people who are of any kind. we can really put together a tax package that is a fair for everyone. i hope we don't reach that. i don't think we will reach that. i think that i'm talking to a lot of republicans already. who really know that we can't keep the same lines in the sand that we have to come together and find something. i'm very hopeful that we will be able to do that. >> bret: will democrats be willing to go up to $1 million

on a cap for tax increase? >> guest: i'm not going to negotiate fine lines with you today but i can tell you again i'm talking to a number of republicans, a number of them have been working just as they did on the simpson-bowles commission. and guidelines of that to find a way to solve this. a lot of republicans are tired of being put in one corner. if you come out of the corner you're not part of the republican party. i think that leaves us some room to really find some common ground. >> bret: republican jeb henserling said nice things about you, dealing with you and negotiating on the table. he did write opinion editorial in november of 2011. why the super committee didn't work saying this -- republicans were willing to agree to additional tax revenue but only in context of fundamental pro-growth tax reform that would broaden the base, lower the rates and maintain current levels of progressivity. this is the approach to tax reform used as the deficit reduction effort of

bowles-simpson and rivilin revidici plan. the democrats said no. they were unable to law officer structural reforms to put healthcare entitlement on sustainable basis. you are saying that it changes in the current dynamic? >> i think what we were willing to put on the table in negotiations on the super committee and the dynamic was to put anything from the site on the table we need the re-knew. the ability to get past the rhetoric and find solution to this. the president ran on making sure wealthiest americans participate inning the problem. he won. a number of senate candidates, all of them ran on the same thing. they won. i think that that puts us in a place to really move forward. >> bret: a lot of the country hopes that they can get done before that cliff. >> guest: we all hope that. >> senator murray, thank you

for your time. a big night for backers of legalized same-sex marriage and recreational marijuana use. maine and maryland became the first states to approve gay marriage by popular vote. official results from the similar measure in washington state are not yet in. but this afternoon supporters declared victory. minnesotaens defeated proposed constitutional amendment to been a same-sex marriage. washington state and colorado set up a showdown with the federal authorities by legalizing the possession and use of marijuana. similar measure in oregon was defeated. before you can vote, you have to know when the election is. that is the first step. chris ma chews is thankful for hurricane sandy. we'll explain in grapevine. coming your way in 40 seconds.

>> bret: this is quick. now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine. hardball anchor chris matthews closing thoughts from election night, well, they were a little unusual. he was as usual praising president obama and the people who re-elected him. then he said this -- "i'm so glad we had that storm last week, because i think the storm was one of those things. no politically i should say, not in terms of hurting people. the storm brought in possibilities for good politi

politics. knoll shepherd writes -- >> bret: matthews apologized on tonight's program for two minutes saying i said something not just stupid but wrong. i said something that suggested ends justify means, something i have never believed in my life. thinking that way is immoral way to live your life. islamists are reacting to the american vote. egyptian brotherhood said the only foreign policy change the president can bring is by accepting the will of the arab people. they told the "times of israel" that egypt can affect and lead the process of building democratic and constitutional regime that will become a dream for

african and southern hemisphere. the group wants to make shariah law main source of the constitution. election is in the books but some d.c. voters might have mistakenly shown up to vote today. local media reports say tuesday morning nearly 2,000 district voters receive democratic robo calls telling them to vote tomorrow. as in wednesday. the democratic party says the foul-up happened because a vendor recycled a message from the day before. the party says the call was rerecorded and the entire list of 100,000 infrequent or new d.c. voters were recalled and urged to vote tuesday instead. election day in america is viewed with considerable interest around the world. senior foreign affairs correspondent amy kellogg shows us from london. >> mr. speaker, the house will join me in congratulating president obama on the election victory. >> europeans overwhelmingly

wanted to see president obama return to the white house. the special edition of the front page screamed one word. "yes!" however, you will find some who have been underwhelmed by the past four years. >> the point about obama is that he is sort of impressive man without being impressive president. i think that there was a feeling for example, certainly that he was apologetic about america. >> some con seventives question obama's moves toward a greater social welfare state in america. as europeans come to understand that their entitlement culture is unsustainable. further east in russia, dmitry medvedev expressed relief that man who called russia the top geopolitical foe mitt romney did not win the vote. vladimir putin graduated obama it's hard to guess how he really feels. >> kremlin and putin, the presence of russia is not

about showing its emotion or putin about showing his. >> he may remember this moment well. >> after my election, i have more flexibility. >> israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu supported mitt romney said he will continue to work with president obama and says security cooperation between the two countries is rock solid. arab views are mixed. >> i do believe he is well-advised when he comes to the middle east and that is the problem. they don't know how to get up. they don't know how to deal with the -- [ inaudible ] of political and military intervention. >> mixed with the congratulations of world leaders came reminders of the urgent work that needs to be done from stabilizing the global economy and finding revolution to the bloody conflict in syria. certain international initiatives put on hold until november 7. bret? >> bret: amy kellogg in

london. thank you. officials in great britain say they will deal directly with the syrian rebel military leaders. today, turkish official says his nation talked to nato allies including the u.s. about using the patriot missiles to protect a safe zone inside syria. with the election over, more movement tonight in the libya scandal. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is here with an update. good evening. >> thank you, bret. good evening. this is the first time the u.s. intelligence community heard the al-qaeda leader weigh in on the benghazi attack to followers. intelligence source who reviewed the 7-minute audio recording says it makes no mention of the anti-islam video blamed by the obama administration as catalyst for the 9/11 attack. while much of the audiotape is devoted to the al-qaeda affiliate in east africa that recently lost control of ports in somalia, analysts say there sake passal. al-zawahiri seeks to capitalize on the death of ambassadorsteins and three other americans by claiming it's a sign of american weakness in the region.

"they were defeated in a iraq and they with withdrawalling from afghanistan and the ambassador from benghazi was killed and the flags of the embassies were lowered." that is a reference to american flags torn down and replaced by the black flags when the u.s. embassies were overrun by demonstrators. it's broader political position to establish islamist state. >> for various countries in tunisia, libya, egypt and also in yemen, they perceive the attack in benghazi not just as victory for them, successful one and model for future attacks. >> analysts notes it takes six weeks for al-zawahiri to respond to major news events. this is attributed to the intense security procedures. al-zawahiri understands bin laden's undoing was to courier who relayed an audio or video message. >> bret: the house intelligence committee will hold a hearing on the libya

attack next thursday as ed henry mentioned earlier. witnesses will include james clapper, c.i.a. director david petraeus and national counterterrorism center director matt olsen. that is the same day the senate intelligence committee holds a closed hearing on the matter. one resident of the hard hit rockaway section of new york says sequel to a horror movie. another winter storm is bearing down on the northeast right now. a week after hurricane sandy with hundreds of hows still in the dark. without heat. >> by mid-afternoon the wind picked up and rain along the coast turned to snow. work crews trying to clean up after last week's megastorm say the nor'easter made their job more difficult. >> a lot more difficult. the sand is heavier. difficult to work because it's cold. they are getting wet.

in the enough ponchos or bag. >> it's expected to bring rain and wet snow to new jersey and new york. half a million people are still without power following last week's storm. now there is fear that number will rise. new york mayor michael bloomberg warned those without power to be cautious. how they heat their homes. >> if you remain in your homes please do not use gas ranges or ovens to stay warm. that is not only a serious fire hazard, the fumes it release can kill you. >> in order to prepare for the storm and prevent flooding, work crews in new jersey tried to rebuild danieled sand dunes. federal officials are helping thousands left homeless by the first storm. but despite the risks caused by nor'easter there is still those to refuse to be evacuated. >> i don't think there is any more fear. this is it. i'm getting anxiety walking around seeing what i'm going do. and other people, too. i feel bad for other people. this is crazy.

you know, i don't know what to do anymore. i don't want to live in long beach. >> new jersey governor chris christie says when told by forecasters about the second storm, he wondered what's nex next? locust or pest pestilence? many suffering consequences of the storm says tim pact seems biblical. >> bret: we can barely see you. thank you. we'll talk about the good, bad and the ugly from election day. special expanded fox all-star panel join me in, that's right, 30 seconds.

recognition we have common hopes and dreams won't end all the gridlock, recall our problems. or substitute for pain-taking work of building consensus and making difficult compromises needed to move the country forward. but that common bond is where we must begin. >> weeks ahead i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward. >> we look to job creators of all kinds. counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward. we look to democrats and republicans and government atale before the politics. >> bret: president obama last night after a big win and

governor romney talking about that. and way forward. a lot of talk today about compromise. what about the way forward? bring in our expanded panel. a.b. stoddard, associate editor of the hill. bill kristol editor of "weekly standard." mara liasson, national political correspondent of national public radio. and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. charles? >> well, i think we have heard words like that before. as ed henry showed the same kind of words during the victory speech in 2008. same words in inaugural address and same words that pead his career when he gave it at the democratic convention in 2004. and then we know what happened in the first term, when they had the meetings with the republicans. and he said to republicans, to eric cantor, i won. will he say "i won" again? i don't know. i don't think anybody knows. we are talking about reaching across the aisle. there is no history of this. hope it's true, because otherwise we are going over a cliff together. >> bret: mara, what about

this victory and how it was put together? if you look at the electoral vote now. it's over 300. 303. we still don't have florida officially called. you can see it's still left off. they are counting votes down there in miami-dade, i guess. or making it official. so he could conceivably add to the total. then you look at the national popular vote. and how close it was. still, president obama will win. there you see the different counties, republican and democrat. the yellow ones within 3%. >> electoral college landslide. popular vote is closer. he did win an he won in an impressive way. he got his voters to the poll polls, in record numbers, even though there was no organic enthusiasm behind that. that is sign of mature movement. young people, african-american, hispanics,

they weren't caught up in the novelty and euphoria of 2008 hope and change. but the obama campaign spent money and time, five years, targeting them, persuading them and getting them out. romney did as well with the white vote as any other republican seeking the white house. he maxed out. he could haven't done much better. but he was getting a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. all the demographic trends we knew for heading to the democrats, the future came earlier. this was a pretty impressive effort on the part of the president and republicans are going to have to do something differently in the future if they are going to win presidential election. >> bret: bill, you heard it from governor mcdonald tonight. >> look, decisive victory by president obama. here is the fact, six presidential elections, since the cold war. democrats won four, all handily. even last night, governor romney won florida and ohio, and virginia, three swing

states within two points about he still would haven't won the presidency. he would have needed one more state and that was t next state was colorado, five points. president obama won. other three were bigger. two clinton victory and obama earlier victory. two republican victories since the cold war was bush in 2000 he lost by popular vote and in 2004 when he won by one state. republicans kid themselves when they say gee, the storm came up and we made tactical errors. republicans have to think about the message and why they are not communicating with the voters out there and constituencies they have to reach. >> bret: ab, look at the minority vote. latino vote up since 2008. african-american vote up since 2008. youth vote up from 2008. that coalition, african-americans in ohio, amazing statistic if they were what they were the number wise

in 2008, just the number, mitt romney would have won ohio. but instead they surpassed the 2008 turn-out number in ohio. then made up the difference of the loss in ohio. i mean, you look at that coalition, it's amazing organizationally. >> it's two things. republicans anticipated that the 2008 coalition wouldn't hold. it held, but there was an enthusiasm deficit and the obama campaign planned for itch they found new voters. the voters often didn't turn up in polls. they went out and made sure they found new people. and made sure to grow numbers in the right places. they're good at the science of this. they mastered it. they did it again. it's -- it takes resources and a lot of shoe leather. they go town by town and block by block. they find the people and get them in car. other thing is demographics. republicans have to stop den denying the beiging and browning of the country and open the tent to bring voters in, or in a few cycles they

won't be able to find enough white vote to take themselves over the top. >> bret: we'll talk about the soul searching in the republican party in the next panel. i do want to talk about the compromise and the physical cliff and what was said by speaker boehner today. and reaction to it. >> two paths to take to get to presidency. feeding the growth of got through higher tax rates won't help us solve the problem. treating the growth of our economy through better tax code will. mr. president, this is your moment. we are ready to be led. not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. we have want you to lead. not as a liberal or conservative, but as president of the united states of america. we want you to succeed. let's challenge ourselves to find common ground that alluded us. >> charles? >> what boehner is saying is what tip o'neil and dan

rasbokowsky said in '86 when they worked out tax plan with reagan. the debt commission said. obama has religious attachment to idea of raising rates. it's agreed if you raise the rates you decrease economic activity and prosperity. the other way youto raise the re-knew, which hits the rich more than anybody else, is to reduce deductions and exemptions because they benefit the rich. the rich have lawyers to exploit them and lobbies to create them. it's the same way to raise the revenue but through a different mechanism. i think if republicans can make that case, they want to raise the revenue, they want the rich to pay more. but through a far more efficient way of tax reform, not raising the rates. you can have a compromise. whether obama will accept it, because i think he has an attachment to the idea that he has to raise the rates in name of fairness, above all, i don't know. >> bret: not only tax rate

but biden suggested they think it is a mandate from the vote, that they campaigned on raising taxes on the rich. >> vice president biden also slipped up in the debate and said they would, it would be up to $1 million. in speaking with republicans today they said it would be hard for them to be cornered given good enough deal at $1 million. >> bret: which is what i asked senator murray and she didn't want to get into it. >> no one wants to get in specifics. off the record conversation. charles is right. they are going to try to find a way to attract new revenue in a way that can pass the house. that can be seen as different way of raising taxes. it's got to be through the tax reform. but it is, complicated path and everyone is in the corner licking their wounds. waiting for white house to become less, quote/unquote, jubilant. they are waiting for the anger and frustration to subside in the republican conference. they are thinking post thanksgiving. >> not a lot of time.

>> going to be a deal, i believe, and it will be a democratically oriented deal. president obama won re-election. half to say it, he said he wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy and he got 51% of the vote. they won seats in the senate and the house. republicans will be able to bargain some, speaker boehner i think dade good job today of laying out his position and trying to get some leverage. but they are going to get a deal to lean if obama direction. >> boehner was explicit. he is okay with raising revenue but he doesn't want to raise the rates. there is bays to do that. >> bret: governor romney said on the campaign trail again and again an again and got hammered because nobody wanted to talk specifics. negotiate in public. >> neither did he. >> nor did senator murray. >> speak her not hold his own caucus in my view against a small rate hike on millionaires. the president of the united states won re-election and you're going to say whole deal, going off the fiscal cliff, millionaires can't pay 38%? his opening position is the

correct economic position i think which is tax reform, not tax hike. i wouldn't bet against million ires paying 39% instead of 35% next year. >> tax reform takes a long time. you are going to the fiscal cliff in the short-term. but you are to lay out some kind of goals or parameters for the tax reform project which takes a year. >> bret: basically what we are looking at is another punt, to the spring, and promise to take up simpson-bowles or dome domeiniic-riblin or whatever. >> you don't want to negotiate tax reform in '8 # took a year, in month yeah you can't do. you punt it. with the understanding on all sides, which you can do in a month yeah is you do something along simpson-bowles. on that, you can get a national consensus and get us out of the immediate emergency. >> there will be skeptics who said that is what the super committee was supposed to do. >> the president just stood aside. now he has to go ahead and

lead. beginning a second term. he can't allow it to start with a recession. he has something to compel him to go ahead and offer something like that kind of deal. >> i agree. for boehner, this is his legacy and paul ryan he wants to be the guy who was effective and maybe deal with the president. >> bret: so, where do republican goes from here in we'll talk about that in 40 seconds.

if we are going to win in future republicans need to do better among latinos and better among women, particularly single women. we better make case to younger voters that the party they associate themselves with is the party of liberty. >> white vote fell further. i subject this is the last all white republican ticket. >> back with the panel. bill, do you agree? >> i don't think you pick people based on the color of their skin.

i think the republicans need to think about why they haven't been able to persuade more americans of the case for their policies. i hate the idea younger people will be automatically democrats. that is terrible. democrats are defending the liberal state. republicans should be the party of young people. not democrats. >> then they better start relating to young people in a way young people respond to. people form habits. why was there reagan voting baby-boomers? now young voters voted for president two elections in a row. habit forming. >> but they're in out unemployed. >> unemployed people voted for obama. you saw the exit polls. >> they're 25 and don't have job equal to educational leve level. a good way to break a habit. bill is right, you don't go after them the way that the

president did. he did successfully. with a pander to every constituency. what you do is make the case for free markets less regulation and show people how it's done. i think the panicked idea somehow the republicans are now party of white people alone can never regain the majority, i think is wrong. they had a candidate who was a good man. but he was not the most fluent in making the case. which won the republicans a smashing success in 2010. smaller government opposition to obamacare, et cetera. they have a young generation of the very strong with paul ryan, marco rubio, bobby jindal, the list is long of young people who can and will lead. and who will intrinsically, philosophically con seventive. one exception is hispanics. that is not intrinsic ethnic problem but a policy problem.

republicans are -- romney ran right of rick perry if primary. on that issue. he never recovered. i think republicans can change their position. be a lot more open to actual amnesty with enforcement. amnesty, everything short of citizenship. to make a bold change in their policy. enforcement and immediately after, guarantee of amnesty, that would change everything. he had rub arguing that it would completely up-end all the ethnic alignment. >> bret: not only that, a.b., despite ideological shift in primary, the obama campaign outspent romney campaign double on spanish language ads on radio and tv. specifically target that group. despite the fact that he was vulnerable, on the fact he didn't pass any immigration law. specifically for the community. >> well, i think that the latino electorate was frustrated with the obama. record level of deportation and broken promise on passing

comprehensive immigration reform. he cynically told the "des moines register" two weeks ago he would pass it in 2013. never told latinos it wasn't in his pamphlet he was passing around as the second term agenda. they have right to be frustrated with him. other events taking place like sb-1070 in arizona, galvanized the electorate in grassroots, energy fundraising because it's going to become national energizing issue for them. charles is right. i speak to republican members all the time, though. they are between such a rock and a hard place. if they make just passing comment about guest visas their office is taken over by protesters the next day. people they think are xenophobic but they can't one an issue. problem for the party. many people in the house are in safe districts but they are afraid of getting primaryed by the purists. very, very, very big mountain to climb.

>> that is why you need international leadership. that could change it. reagan changed attitudes. so could new young leader. >> bret: marco rubio? >> ahead of the democrats on this issue, it could reverse everything. >> bret, the business community needs to step in on the fiscal cliff and immigration and shame both parties in terms of withholding the contributions in to taking action on the issues. it's not just one leader. the people holding the bag on hiring really need to tell both parties time to get going. >> bill, what about this battle inside the party between need to be more moderate and go out of, go for more independents? or be more conservative and really stick to principle? i mean it seems like that has already started. the president just arriving from chicago there at the white house as we tak talk over that. >> a luge number of battle -- huge number of battles in the next week and months, foreign policy and social issues.

moderates, principle conservative message and some truth in most of it, i suppose. i don't know. if you look at history of the last few years when you have a losing presidential campaign as we had on the republican side, the next, against incumbent president. the next candidate is younger. think of john kerry in 2004 and obama in 2008. or mondale and dukakis in '80s and clinton in the early '90s. younger candidate with a fresh message to change the character of the party. at the end of the day, they do stuff in congress but the key is getting the governors and senators who have been elected and presidential candidate in 2016. >> just like con seventives swallow -- conservatives swal load reservations and learn to love mitt romney. they will swallow reservations and line up behind rubio or a jeb bush with positive message on immigration and different approach to hispanics. i believe that. >> that is right. when you don't have the presidency, leadership comes on its own spontaneously

without parliamentary system in which you have an official leader of the opposition. l develop.w it will change and rubio or a bush or it could be ryan, anybody else. but you get leadership on the issue and party will follow because it commends success and the presidency at the other end of that path. >> bret: that is it for the panel. stay tuned, to see just another reason why it's good this election is over.

pos 102 for the last week, perhaps a year many of you were probably bombarded with political ads and robo calls. you name it. especially if you were in a battleground state. a few stations across the country had a specific way of describing the last few days of the campaign. the final days of the campaign can get salty. >> the final days of the campaign can get a little salty. >> the final days of the campaign can get a little salt yncht the final days of the campaign can get a little salt. >>y. >> the final days of the campaign can get a little salt j. >> as you noticed the final days of the campaign have been well, you might call them a little salty.